Even with improved quartz lights and iodized lights for motor vehicles, there are many situations where additional lighting is desirable. Off-road vehicles operated at night find additional lighting very useful. The need for additional lighting may be met by fastening lights to a bracket above the bed of a truck so the lights shine over the top of the truck's cab to illuminate the area in front of the truck. But lights above the cab are high in elevation relative to the driver and the truck cab and/or hood block much of the light from illuminating the ground immediately in front of the truck. There is thus a need for a motor vehicle light bar that provides improved illumination.
Many light bars have the lights permanently fixed to mounting brackets at the factory. While this preassembly may make installation easier it makes it difficult to vary the number, style and location of the lights or to vary the amount and location of the resulting illumination. This pre-fixed lighting also requires making several different light bars to meet the lighting desired by different users. As the light size affects the height of the over-rider bar, a number of different, prefabricated light bars are needed to meet the various user demands. Even if the lights are removably fixed to the mounting brackets there is a need to stock a large number of different light bars to avoid the unsightly appearance of empty holes for light brackets, and to have the appropriate height of over rider bar on the light bar. There is thus a need for an improved apparatus to allow the use of different light sizes, light locations, light types and to allow different over rider bars, while providing an aesthetic appearance.
When lights are placed on the exterior of a vehicle they are subject to impact damage from trees, shrubs, rocks, flying debris and various other objects. There is thus a need for protecting the lights on exterior light bars from damage. There is a further need to address the above needs and improvements with aesthetically pleasing configurations to support the lights and connect them to the motor vehicle in various configurations without stocking a large inventory of prefabricated light bar assemblies.